On the Scene Footage: Friday Protests Across Syria

Earlier in the week, we highlighted videos coming out of the Syrian city of Homs, which purported to depict large-scale protests as well as gunfire from government forces. Today, we have new footage said to be from cities across Syria of the many Friday protests that broke out in another day that is reported to turn violent.

Here is some of that footage, which has been curated on CitizenTube in partnership with Storyful. It's been labeled by the city it was said to have been shot in.

Damascus:	Zabadani:
Banias:	Homs:

There is also footage of reported gunfire that's begun to draw some attention. We will update with more.

The 10 Most Viewed Flash Mobs of All Time

Flash mobs -- when a group of people appear in one location unexpectedly and usually put on some sort of rehearsed performance -- have practically become a staple of YouTube in recent years.

While one would expect it to quickly become a tired phenomenon, we've seen so many creative variations on it that viewers continue to seek them out. We've seen flash mobs with lightsabers. Flash mobs in the Ohio State University Student Union. Bollywood flash mobs. Planet Hollywood flash mobs. German ballet flash mobs.

According to our YouTube search data, big interest in the term "flash mob" started to rise in mid-2009 and remained steady until last December, when it hit a huge peak around the holiday season's most popular trend. Since we're still seeing new flash mobs appear each week, we thought we'd review which flash mobs were the most-viewed ever. These 10 run the gamut of style, size, and language, but they're all pretty entertaining:

(May take a moment to load. Watch the full playlist here.)

4 in the Morning: The Hysterical Machine

Twice each day we scan our YouTube metrics as well as websites on the cutting edge of internet culture to discover the most buzzed about videos.

Hysterical Bubbles!	Rube Goldberg Time Machine	Perform This Way	Gunfire in Homs

1. Molly really likes it when Bennie the dog attacks bubbles. As seen on Urlesque.
2. Purdue University's Rube Goldberg "Time Machine" takes 244 steps to complete, reportedly a world record number. As seen on Boing Boing.
3. Weird Al Yankovic's new single caused quite a stir yesterday when Lady Gaga gave permission for the parody after her manager reportedly denied to grant it.
4. Earlier this week, we highlighted videos from a protest in Homs, Syria that was reportedly broken up by live gunfire from government forces. More alleged video from the moment of that encounter has emerged.

Ads Around the World: Angels & Gators

Early today, we examined how T-Mobile's "Royal Wedding" clip has become the most-viewed video in the UK. Keeping with the theme, we decided to check out some different ads that were trending in other parts of the world today:

FRANCE:	ARGENTINA:
AUSTRALIA:	IRELAND:

See more of what's popular in different locations nationally and around the world with our Trends Dashboard.

4 in the Afternoon: Paper Stud

Twice each day we scan our YouTube metrics as well as websites on the cutting edge of internet culture to discover the most buzzed about videos.

Papercraft Audi	Little Soccer Stud	Hand Transplant	Monopoly: The Movie

1. It took 285 sheets of paper and 245 hours for graphic artist Teras Lesko to create this papercraft A7 for Audi. As seen on Jalopnik.
2. One of our Trending Videos today is of another all-star in the under-2 category. This time the sport is soccer.
3. Trending today is this short documentary about UCLA's first hand transplant patient.
4. Following in the footsteps of many other board game movies comes this imagining of what a Monopoly movie would look like. As seen on Meme Machine.

'Royal Wedding Entrance' Averaging Millions of Views

Though it was only posted late last Friday, T-Mobile's "Royal Wedding Entrance" video has become one of the top 10 most-viewed videos of the past month on YouTube. The clip, which is a spoof of the now-famous JK Wedding" video, has picked up nearly 7 million views since last Friday, and as indicated in the chart below, is still averaging over 1 million views per day.

On Friday, the video generated a lot of buzz on Twitter and recieved an early boost from celebrity choreographer Louie Spence. Today, it's still among our Most Shared videos overall and it remains the Most Viewed video in the United Kingdom.

4 in the Morning: Symmetric All-Star

Twice each day we scan our YouTube metrics as well as websites on the cutting edge of internet culture to discover the most buzzed about videos.

Symmetry	Toddler Basketball All-Star	This or That?	Malaysian Bieber Flashmob

1. Radiolab, who also created the popular clip "Words," have a new short film examining pairings of imperfect matches. As seen on BuzzFeed.
2. Luke is not even two-years-old, and he already has a solid jumpshot. As seen on Urlesque.
3. A baby has to make some difficult decisions in this clip that's one of the most popular in Brazil this week.
4. Another day another Trending flashmob, except this time it's Justin Bieber-themed and performed by a large group of kids in Malaysia.

Rising Search: 'Tornado Stole My Hamburger'

The top rising search on YouTube this afternoon is the phrase "tornado stole my hamburger," a reference to a news clip that's getting passed around pop-culture blogs today.

As we know, one of the all-time most popular viral categories on YouTube is the unusual-local-news-interview genre. The latest entry comes from Jackson Mississippi's WAPT-TV and tornado victim Eric Hubbard, a local resident who reportedly rode the storm out in his car.



Even tornados like a good combo meal.